


A Decision to Make

by Mandalorianess



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26158774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandalorianess/pseuds/Mandalorianess
Summary: “Where is the child?” his opponent, probably a bounty hunter barked, and for a split second Din wondered if he had expected him to bring the little one, but then it began to dawn on him, the stranger seemed to think that he left the child somewhere…maybe with the foundlings, he was clearly misinformed.“Don’t tell him, Mando” Cara’s voice was croaky and her sight unfocused, but still she thought of not calling him by his name in front of this man. “Just go, please, Mando go and never look back, make sure the little one is safe. Don’t risk anything I’m not worth it” tears were glistening in her eyes and when she blinked finally a little drop made its way down her cheek.
Relationships: Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 55





	A Decision to Make

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments and kudos, that means a lot to me <3
> 
> As always big thank you to wolfy22 for proofreading this fanfiction :)

He walked up and down the cockpit of his ship, Cara should have been back at least three hours ago. The sun already started to set, and he was getting more and more worried. Suddenly his comlink made a cracking noise. 

“Cara is that you?” he answered the incoming call

“I have your girl, Mando,” said a coarse and unknown voice. The comlink showed Cara, she was sitting on a chair, her head hanging to her chest without any tension, she was unconscious.  
It took him a short moment of shock to sort out his thoughts. 

“What do you want? ” he finally managed to say.

“Sending you coordinates,” the unknown voice said, ignoring Din's question “You better hurry, or she’s dead” 

Din swallowed heavily. That wasn’t how he had imagined this day to end. 

With slightly shaking hands he checked on the little one, already asleep in his pram, before he activated ground security protocols to protect his son.

When he finally left the Crest, it had started to rain. He knew the coordinates the stranger had sent him, it was an old rather small partly scorched warehouse, not in use in a long time, slowly decomposing, through the constantly changing weather on this planet.

It didn't take him long until he reached said warehouse, and suddenly he realized that he didn’t even have a plan at all. He had just seen that Cara was captured by some stranger, seemingly injured, and went on his way as fast as he could. But did he really need a plan? There was not enough information about the situation anyway, he just needed to make sure Cara would survive this whole mess.

Hesitantly he entered the warehouse, checking the left and right side of the door, holding his plaster in each direction, before he finally saw her, she was still sitting on the same chair he had already seen on his comlink, but she wasn’t unconscious anymore. A nasty cut surrounded by a dark bruise graced her forehead.

“One wrong move and she dies,” the kidnapper said, leveling his blaster at her head “Put down your blaster and kick it over” he added

Din did as ordered, slowly laying down his weapon, trying to figure out with whom he was dealing.

“What do want?” he repeated his question from earlier, and eventually kicked over his blaster.

“Where is the child?” his opponent, probably a bounty hunter barked, and for a split second Din wondered if he had expected him to bring the little one, but then it began to dawn on him, the stranger seemed to think that he left the child somewhere…maybe with the foundlings, he was clearly misinformed.

“Don’t tell him, Mando” Cara’s voice was croaky and her sight unfocused, but still she thought of not calling him by his name in front of this man. “Just go, please. Go Mando and never look back, make sure the little one is safe. Don’t risk anything I’m not worth it” tears were glistening in her eyes and when she blinked finally a little drop made its way down her cheek.

He would never just leave her, didn’t she know how much she meant to him? He had to admit that this situation seemed quite hopeless, he hadn’t had his blaster anymore and it would take him too long to reach for his pulse rifle on his back. He needed to stay calm and focused just one wrong movement and Cara would be dead. But why would she think she wasn't even worth trying? 

“Cara, I can’t just leave you, I…” he paused thinking about if it really would be a smart move to confess his love at this moment, but what if there weren’t any other moments anymore? he forbid himself to think like this, he had to stay focused and negative thoughts like that were definitely not helping.

“Come on Mando, you don’t need to pretend that you actually like me, I get it, you just fucked me because I have nice tits. Now go and get your kid” She looked at him eyes still filled with tears, and he could barely look back at her. It hurt so much to hear her talk like this, not only that she had such a low opinion on herself, but also that she thought he would just use her, to get some relief or something like that. 

He looked over at the hostage-taker, his face mirrored some sort of confusion and when he looked back to Cara, suddenly it clicked. Cara had a plan, he got it now. If he left the bounty hunter would have no use for Cara anymore and if they got lucky, he had honor and let her go but if not…He didn’t want to think about it, but he had to make a decision. Either risk it to try and shoot the Bounty hunter or to hope he would let Cara go when he just left and showed no interest in her anymore. There was no way he could get in that damn building undetected on another way, to kill that son of a bantha after he left.

He looked down at his feet. How did he even end up in this kriffed up situation? He had never been good at making decisions when it was personal, and emotional to him, and what could be more personal, more emotional than to make the right decision to save someone he loved with all his heart. 

When he looked up, the man still pointing his blaster at Cara’s head had gained his confidence back.

“Seem like this tin can likes you more than you think,” he said sending an evil smile in Cara’s direction.  
He needed to decide, now! 

“Nah, actually she’s right, nice tits, nothing more” he heard himself say and was shocked at the sound of the words leaving his mouth.

One last time he looked at Cara before he eventually left. He hoped that he didn’t misinterpret Cara’s glances and that it was part of her plan that he left, if not, he could never forgive himself for letting her think that he didn’t like her. 

She had looked so sad and he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that at least what she said first, that she wasn’t worth it, was how she really thought about herself. She may be always teasing him, but deep down he knew that some of her teasing was only an escape from her self-doubt. 

***

When he entered the Crest the little one was still sound asleep. A quiet sigh of relief escaped his lips, a whining toddler was the last thing he needed right now.  
His nerves were strained to the utmost, what if the bounty hunter would kill her? Or maybe she would take his words serious and never come back at all. He would never know if she left or if she died, it was a horrible feeling. Until now, he hadn’t realized how much he loved this amazing woman, he needed her so much it scared him. 

How could he explain to his son, that the woman who was the closest he had to a mother would never return? Because even though Cara still refused to admit it, she really cared for the little one and sometimes Din wondered if the kid actually liked her a little more than him because she was always spoiling him.

Hours passed and there was still no sign of Cara. He sat in his chair staring out the cockpit window and tried to get himself to form that unthinkable thought. Cara was dead, or at least the chances that she was still alive were very low. 

He cradled his helmeted head in his hands and even though he tried, he couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. He had messed it all up, it was his fault that she would never come back. He made the wrong decision and it almost felt like he had pulled the trigger himself, how was he supposed to live with this guilt?

***

A faint knocking noise woke him up with a jolt, he didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep, maybe he was just hearing things now, because he was tired. It couldn’t be Cara, right?  
The knocking had ended shortly after he woke up and he almost didn’t want to get up to lower the ramp, it was probably just some branches falling down in the thunderstorm that had resulted in the slight rain from earlier this evening. But what if…?

He finally lowered the ramp and the huddled picture of misery he saw filled him with relief and worry at the same time. Her lower lip was bleeding and her clothes were soaked through and through, her hair was sticking to her face in wet strands and she shivered violently. 

She was still sitting there next to the lowered ramp like she hadn’t even realized that it was open.  
He swiftly went down the ramp, hoping that it wasn’t a trap. He kneeled beside her and cautiously touched her shoulder, causing her to flinch.

“It’s me, Din,” he said a little helpless, not sure what to do. “Let’s go in and get you some dry clothes and a cup of warm tea” he suggested, even though he wasn’t quite sure if he really possessed tea.

She leaned her hand on his shoulder, slightly nodding, but didn’t move. 

Gently he grabbed her waist, trying to help her get up, but only caused her to wince in pain. 

“Don’t need help” she mumbled and afflicted herself with getting up on her own. 

Din hadn’t known that it could be so painful to watch someone but watching her slowly walking up the ramp of his ship, looking like she’d faint any moment was torture.  
He knew it wouldn’t be appreciated if he helped her it would only hurt her pride, even more. He had to wait until she willingly let him take care of her injuries, there was no sense in forcing her.

When she stumbled at the threshold, he caught her almost out of reflex. Seeing her lying in his arms made him feel warmer that appropriate for this situation and he tried to focus on getting her safely down to her bunk, which wasn’t exactly an easy task because she still refused his help.

He sighed quietly in relief when she was finally sitting on her bed.  
Now in the light she looked even worse, there was a bruise spreading from her left cheek up to her eye, and additionally, to her chapped lips and the cut on her forehead there was some dried blood in and under her nose, but at least her nose didn’t look like it was broken.

“Please Cara, let me take care of your injuries” he pleaded, trying to make it easier for her to accept his help by pretending she would be doing it for him, which wasn’t quite wrong, he wasn’t sure if he could watch her suffer any longer. 

She just silently nodded, staring at the floor and he swiftly made his way to get the medpac and a wet cloth to clean up her face, before she could change her opinion.

“What happened?” he finally dared to ask while he was carefully wiping away the dried blood from under her nose.

“He got a little angry after you left, but let me go after he beat the shit out of me” She mumbled and Din wasn’t quite sure how to interpret her tone, she seemed to be embarrassed but there was more in her voice, sadness maybe or…he didn’t know.

“I’m sorry, if I hadn’t been that careless at the market, he would have never gotten me like this…” She paused and Din waited patiently for her to continue “I was just so happy that Greef had fixed my chain code and wasn’t paying enough attention to the surrounding environment…” her voice cracked slightly before she eventually continued “He hit me with his blaster and I was out immediately” she gestured to the cut at her forehead.

“It’s not your fault, it could have happened to me too” he said trying to cheer her up and she finally looked at with a crooked smile that seemed to ask _‘Seriously?’_  
“Well if it wasn’t for the helmet, it could have happened to me too” he corrected, and Cara’s smile brightened a little.

“Thank you, Din” it was only a whisper, but he heard it and at this moment it meant everything to him, because she was finally starting to accept that she hadn’t had to do everything on her own anymore.

“I know you just said it to get out of this situation but I want you to know that I didn’t sleep with you just because…” he stopped searching his brain cells for the right word.

“Because I have nice tits” she suggested with an amused smile and now it was him who silently nodded, looking down onto the floor.

“Yeah, I know that,” she said brushing her thumb over his helmet where she assumed his cheek to be

“But when you said you weren’t worth it, you meant it, didn’t you?” He asked looking up again, trying to make eye contact, but she already looked away, escaping his questioning gaze.  
He knew that she had meant it but still it hurt to get the confirmation.

He laid his hand on her chin, gently forcing her to look at him. Her eyes were glistening with tears and even though her head was leveled in his direction now she still wasn’t really looking at him, it was more like she was staring right through him, trapped in her thoughts.

“Cara, please look at me” but she didn’t. Din wasn’t even sure if she had heard him “Cara, I want you to know that you are the most important person in my life, besides the kid…” he paused and she was finally starting to look at him.

“I love you, Cara, I love you so much it sometimes scares me”

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but closed it without making a noise. He knew he was overstraining her, and didn’t expect her to say it back, he just wanted her to know that she was loved, that she was worth it.

When she eventually leaned his head against his helmet it was more commitment than he had ever dared to hope for.

He didn’t know how long they were just sitting there head to head, not saying anything, but he knew that he never wanted it to end.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it. As always I'm grateful for every comment and open to any critique :)


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